Broken Shoe Shiner

Broken Shoe Shiner cocktail was created by bartender Stephen Cole of The Violet Hour in Chicago. The history I found on this was from the brilliant Cocktail Virgin Slut blog written by Frederic Yarm. Anyway, this drink was named after Jean Lanfray who murdered his wife and kids in a drunken rage in 1905. This event directly leads to the panic surrounding absinthe in Europe and directly lead to France banning it. Blaming absinthe was a bit ridiculous as the man consumed a massive amount of alcohol, where only 2oz of which was Absinthe. Apparently, after consuming all that booze he asked his wife to shine his shoes, and when she didn’t he killed his entire family.